Letters for Sunday, February 3, 2008

• Zoning solution suggestion

• Getting out of the subprime debacle

• Avoid chemical hazards

Zoning solution suggestion

Fact: the General Plan update has specific plans for the development of our island, and as the real estate industry grew, prices exceeded supply and demand for our residents. Investors purchased lands with development or speculation in mind. Communities became polarized as high priced estates, vacation rentals and time share developments brought a new lifestyle that left most local residents feeling like they were stuck in paradise, rather than living day to day.

The general plan update can be to blame. That blueprint dictated what can and should be done. Thus the developers simply followed a blueprint that we were responsible for many moons ago.

And thus the problem: If we alter zoning in any one area for the sake of our island’s future, and that change affects an investors “right” to build, is the county liable? That is what faces us all at this time, and the bickering and moaning and complaining can go on and on and on. The question is: Are we as a county liable?

I dreamed up a bill that could dissuade such dilemmas in the future. If you buy a piece of property now, and you plan to live on it, and it’s a single-family dwelling, you are not susceptible to any zoning changes for as long as you own the property.

However, if you buy a piece of property with the intention of not living on it, or having multi-family dwelling or multiple units for development and investment, and you have not started construction on such a piece after 18 months of ownership, then whatever zoning changes take place need to be followed.

That’s a partial solution to any future zoning problems or restrictions toward growth. Then if some forward-thinking representatives can also address the vacation rental zoning, as well as adjusting the property tax structure for such properties, then supply and demand and the natural order of things just might take place. And maybe land for our kids will be affordable again. Now they still will be working 60 hours a week in some vacation-land sweat shop. But at least generations can remain in place, living harmoniously on the weekend and watching us grow old and pass onto the next generation what we learned and then unlearned over the years. Or am I that stupid?

Andy Melamed

Hanalei

Getting out of the subprime debacle

The present subprime mortgage debacle is a direct result of President Bush’s tax cut for the extremely wealthy. If I had $500 million in my investment portfolio instead of the modest amount that supplements my retirement income, the Bush tax cut would create a real problem for me.

I was very happy with things the way they were. I had a broker, a banker and a financial adviser who managed my portfolio, leaving me to enjoy life. All of my taxes were paid, including capital gains. I was free to enjoy my yacht, private jet, travel with friends, etc. I really didn’t need a tax cut, but now that I had it, I had to do something with the money. CD’s did not return enough so I put the pressure on my broker, banker and financial adviser to put my new money to work earning more money, which I really didn’t need.

My broker, banker and financial adviser were under the gun, so they abandoned the principle of due diligence in making loans and started giving substantial mortgages to people who really couldn’t afford them. The rest is history. Millions of foreclosures. Middle class citizens homeless and destitute. Whole neighborhoods in disarray. Lives and reputations ruined by too much money at the top and not enough in the middle. And now the FBI has been given the job of investigating this situation in order to pin the blame for this mess on anybody other than the Bush administration, which is primarily responsible.

Now that it’s too late for impeachment, the November elections can’t come soon enough for me. Not that I have any illusions about the Democrats — my party affiliation — providing a viable solution. At least it will be one step toward our getting our country back.

Harry Boranian

Lihu‘e

Avoid chemical hazards

Many, many mahalos to The Garden Island for such a strong stance on this horrendous herbicidal poisoning of our children, teachers and community (“No-spraying-near-schools bill well-timed,” In Our Voices, Jan. 20).

Many people do not realize that herbicides fall under the category of pesticides.

The environmental classic “Silent Spring” on herbicidal spraying by Rachel Carson is worth reading by every Kauaian age 14 and up.

What a wonderful writer Rachel Carson was: a scientist, and also a conservationist who cared so deeply about the protection of the natural world.

“Silent Spring” (1962) would be an excellent book selection for the English class at the middle and high schools afflicted with this situation — or at least some chapters from it.

It is so ironic that Carson was fighting terminal cancer while writing the book.

And it is even more ironic that Carson was dying of cancer when she had to defend “Silent Spring” from the disapproval of the powerful herbicidal manufacturers and from government agencies who used the herbicides.

We must keep all children — be they in elementary, middle school, or high school — safe from exposure to pesticides.

“Avoidance” of chemical hazards is the best prevention.

Mahalo once again for your strong position.

Karen Tilley

Kealia